To conclude the Battle of Svolder, King Olaf Tryggvason does something that no great viking is expected to do - he commits suicide. The pagans that his men were fighting against believed that if they die in battle, their souls would be transported to the wonderful home of the Gods, Valhalla. If a man were die in combat, it would guarantee his passage there, and thus, young Northmen were eager to meet their end at the tip of an enemy sword, if they had to die on that day.
Olaf, as a Christian, did not believe this. His God would invite only the righteous to spend eternity in Heaven with Him, regardless of how they died. Surely, as a man who brought the faith to so many souls, even by force, Olaf would have thought that his passage to Heaven was secured, and so killing himself was an acceptable way to go.
The stories tell of Olaf jumping off his legendary ship, Long Serpent, and sinking to the depths below. As he ran out of oxygen and died, he must have wondered which afterlife awaited him - the realm of his people or the realm of his God? Perhaps his wickedness caught up to him and he was sent to Hell - or the Norse Hel - instead?
Only one person knows for sure where Olaf Tryggvason, the Christian King of Norway, went after his five-year reign was ended by his own hand. That person, of course, is Olaf.
lyrics
It’s cold beneath the ocean
I cannot feel remorse
We all went through the motions
But no one knew what for
I’m starting to feel hollow
The emptiness, too much
I reach up to the Father
But whose hand will I touch?
Will I make it up to Heaven
Or sink to Hell below
Will I walk the field with Freya
Or drink from human bones?
I wonder where a warrior
Goes after all his scars
These are questions we can’t ever know
Wonder’s all we are
Pray tell, what are the stories
They speak upon my name?
Did time preserve the deeds I’ve done
Or was it all in vain?
Will I make it up to Heaven
Or sink to Hell below
Will I walk the field with Freya
Or drink from human bones?
I wonder where a warrior
Goes after all his scars
These are questions we can’t ever know
Wonder’s all we are
Winterblade is one man with a passion for the Old Norse Æsir and heavy metal. Those passions are combined on the album "Long
Nights," a project rooted in Viking history and often drawn from historical texts. Just released: GREATEST SAGA, the 11-part story of how Norway's first king rose to power in the most unusual way......more
